“Just making sure you found your way to your room.” Grandfather gestured her forward to enter her room.

“Of course, thank you.” Lady Acacia replied and stepped forward over the threshold and paused as she took it all in. “How lovely. A little stark in places but there is a certain elegance in its simplicity. Sometimes when people use far too much gold gilt it can become a little crass. Besides, it fits with the bare-bones nature of a frontier island while still bringing in elements of civilisation from the compass continent. My compliments to the architect it is most effective. The stonework is original and unique, while the tapestries showcase the talents of the island.”

I smiled inside as she complimented my mother and me. We had worked hard on building it together.

I had developed a new skill called Stone shaping and it had continued to level through the process of building it. Much like how I was able to create the shape of sound in the stone, I would fill the stone with my mana letting it sit there rather than use it to heat and melt. Then once the area I wished to affect was full of my mana I would get it to flow with my skill. Much like how I had the stone melt it would follow the path of gravity flowing downhill and out of the square I had filled with mana and now controlled. Forming little miniature cold lava flows down the side of the mountain where the stone flowed like water until the mana ran dry.

It had created a strange case of stone waste in the first practice run which was now stuck to the side of the mountain. However, we worked a way around that and a quick trip to Wester Town and provided us with a set of the wooden slats they used to make bricks from clay. Then the wooden brick making contraption would be placed on top of a tarp and the stone would flow out of the mountain across the contraption and into it forming our very own stone bricks.

They were far stronger than the clay equivalent probably equal to those carved by stonemasons. We had not made a significant amount yet and we required plenty for our own building projects first. However, one day we would make an impact on the local stone quarry but it wouldn’t be any time soon at the rate we were expanding and building our own fortress. But, one day we would.

Once I had emptied the shape I desired my mother came and sang off the imperfections in my stone shaping creating a room that did not look like it had been carved from the mountain so much as straightened with a laser, the edges were that straight. Each wall I had then ensouled song in stone treating each wall as its own tile keeping the pattern simpler by making it with a single note rather than having too many and making the wall too busy with multiple smaller repeating tiles.

I had even chosen a note for each wall. C for the north wall, E for the East wall, G for the south wall and B for the west wall. Each wall represented both a direction as well as a sound. The only problem was the scale had seven notes which didn’t fit with 8 compass directions. Also if you added in the sharps and flats then it took it up to 12 which again would not fit with the 16 compass points. I was not sure if I would stick with that alignment of sound and direction. Besides a C7 chord was not my favourite chord anyway. Maybe I should just go with writing 4 notes of a chord on each wall. A line of rooms with different chords could then have a song written on the walls. A little harmless secret hidden in the walls for the discerning guest.

The line came to mind about the secrets these walls could tell if they could speak. Well our fortress's walls would not only be able to tell secrets but sing songs if they could speak. Thoughts for a later date.

We watched Lady Acacia take it all in.

“Yes, this will do nicely.” She gave her acceptance of her room. “If nothing else is required of me today I would like to do a little unpacking and settling in when my luggage arrives. I will see you bright and early tomorrow Aleera we have a lot of work to do.” She dismissed Aleera before nodding to Grandfather, “Sir, if you would make sure that my luggage is sent up directly I would be most grateful.” She finished by sounding perhaps the most polite she had so far when speaking directly to Grandfather. She almost escorted us out of her room although she had no words only a quick glance for me before we made our exit.

“Come on Aleera, let’s go see to that luggage shall we.” Grandfather directed us back towards the grand hall.

As we walked away I imagined running secret child sized passages behind the walls to give me hidden access to everywhere within our growing fortress. If I could find a hollow within the mountain to offload the stone waste no one would ever know I had put them in not even my family. Shame I hadn’t put in some already to the new tutor’s room really.

. . .

Lady Acacia rested her arms on the windowsill leading out onto the balcony looking out at Wester Town across the waters. It was a shame that she had not made it out to the island before Aleera turned ten but it seemed that all was not lost. From their quick conversation, it appeared the Grandfather had done an adequate job in controlling the allocation of stats. He clearly had some sort of history with a noble family as such rigorous controlling of their children’s stats was rarely seen outside of the Nobility or the Church. Commoners tried their best but knowledge was power and they were working with only a little knowledge that their own families had accrued over the years rather than the full deck of cards the nobles held.

The Silver Sea family seemed strong on the surface if incredibly small. They clearly had no idea of the challenges they would be facing from the inland noble families but their distance from the capital helped them there. Ironically they might receive the most pressure from the Island lords and ladies of the archipelago ahead of any conflict with those on the continent. Despite the fact, that in time they would in all likelihood end up supporting the Lords and Ladies of the archipelago simply through the similar nature of their holdings.

Wester Town was quaint enough from what she had seen of it. It was hardly huge but seemed surprisingly diverse from her short trip through it this morning. Probably partly by necessity. Being so far from others they would have had to be a nearly completely self-sufficient economy and the tax-free status of an expansion island on the horizon of the compass had definitely helped them with that. It would be interesting to see how much of an influence the Lodestar Church held out here so far from the centre of the compass.

The Silver Sea family’s home seemed to be in the process of construction which was not surprising considering their new noble status. What was surprising was the quality of the work. She turned to look at the walls in more detail now that she herself was no longer under observation. The patterns in the stone were reminiscent of the whorls tree singers would create in their work but still markedly different either by design, skill or the nature of the skill that had been used. The Silver Sea family might be small but they clearly had access to some fine artisans here on the island.

She moved over to take in the tapestries that hung on the wall. They depicted the island's lagoon's shoreline from what she assumed to be the top of the mountain. It appeared that the Town Wester was the only human occupation on the island. Although they were not made of the finest of silks they had clearly been made with both skill and skills. She hoped that she could add them to her collection when she left in a decade or two. She would also have to climb the mountain to see the view for herself.

Moving out of the receiving room she had what appeared to be a master bedroom with interestingly enough a stone bed. A dwarf would feel right at home here but at least the mattress was not. Both would have to be replaced with her own but they would do for tonight.

Leading off from the bedroom was what seemed to be a room devoted solely to the processes of maintaining one's hygiene. The handles made the contraptions function self-evident but the flowing water was again both novel and delightful both for the toilet and the bath. It would only require a little magic to heat it up and make it truly delectable. She looked forward to this evening's relaxation.

The only confusing nature of this room was the remaining handles in one corner of the room. At a loss over their purpose, she turned them.

. . . .

"Didn't we agree we would show our guest the full extent of their rooms?" I asked my sister as I was carried out of our growing palace to the shore in search of the porters who would be bringing Lady Acacia's luggage to our home.

"We were fairly promptly escorted out. She did not really give us the chance." Aleera argued.

"Yes but . . ." I was interrupted by a piercing scream.

"What about the shower?" I whispered in the silence that fell over the island.